Singapore Chief Justice to deliver first annual lecture on 73rd anniversary of SC

Justice Menon is attending and watching all the proceedings of the bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud today.

CJI Chandrachud welcomed Justice Menon and called it an honour to invite him as he would deliver the first annual lecture on "The Role of the Judiciary in a Changing World" on the occasion of the Foundation day of the Supreme Court on February 4.

The apex court would commemorate its 73rd anniversary in an event organised in the auditorium of the Supreme Court's additional building complex.

The Supreme Court of India came into existence in 1950. It functioned from the Parliament House till it moved to the present building on Tilak Marg, New Delhi, which has a 27.6 metre high dome and a spacious colonnaded verandah.

The top court came into being two days after the country became a Sovereign Democratic Republic on January 28, 1950.

The inauguration took place in the Chamber of Princes in the Parliament building which also housed India's Parliament, consisting of the Council of States and the House of the People.

The Court moved into the present building in 1958. The building is shaped to project the image of scales of justice. The Central Wing of the building is the Centre Beam of the Scales. In 1979, two New Wings - the East Wing and the West Wing - were added to the complex. In all there are 19 Court Rooms in the various wings of the building.

The Chief Justice's Court is the largest of the Courts located in the Centre of the Central Wing.

The original Constitution of 1950 envisaged a Supreme Court with a Chief Justice and 7 puisne Judges - leaving it to Parliament to increase this number. In the early years, all the Judges of the Supreme Court sat together to hear the cases and as the work of the Court increased and arrears of cases began to cumulate, Parliament increased the number of Judges from 8 in 1950 to 11 in 1956, 14 in 1960, 18 in 1978, 26 in 1986, 31 in 2009 and 34 in 2019 (current strength), the website of the Supreme Court reads.

The Supreme Court comprises the Chief Justice and 33 other Judges appointed by the President of India. Supreme Court Judges retire upon attaining the age of 65 years.

The Constitution seeks to ensure the independence of Supreme Court Judges in various ways. A Judge of the Supreme Court cannot be removed from office except by an order of the President passed after an address in each House of Parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of members present and voting, and presented to the President in the same Session for such removal on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. A person who has been a Judge of the Supreme Court is debarred from practising in any court of law or before any other authority in India.

The proceedings of the Supreme Court are conducted in English only. Supreme Court Rules, 1966 and Supreme Court Rules 2013 are framed under Article 145 of the Constitution to regulate the practice and procedure of the Supreme Court. (ANI)